Butterfly Beach Read online

  ‘Can I have a turn, Selma?’ Phil asked.

  ‘And me? Please let me,’ Maddie said.

  You should share with your best friend, but sometimes you have to draw the line at your best friend’s sisters.

  I ignored them, so Tina did too. They begged harder.

  ‘Stop going on at me,’ I snapped.

  ‘But why won’t you let us have a go?’ asked Phil.

  ‘It’s my turn now,’ said Maddie, and she tried to snatch the mobile off Tina.

  ‘Stop it!’ I said, and I snatched it back.

  Maddie gave a little gasp.

  ‘Selma!’ said Tina’s mum.

  ‘I didn’t do anything!’ I said. Well, I might have accidentally on purpose given her the tiniest shove, but I didn’t hurt her.

  ‘Yes you did,’ said Phil. ‘Come on now, Selma, don’t be so mean. You’ve let Tina take heaps of photos.’

  ‘But Tina’s my best friend,’ I said.

  ‘Phil and Maddie are your friends too,’ said Tina’s mum.

  ‘No they’re not,’ I muttered in a very tiny voice so they couldn’t quite hear.

  ‘Let’s give the photos a rest and have a sing-song,’ said Tina’s dad. ‘Me first. Right, Selma, prepare to be amazed. The King of Rock, Elvis himself, has been reincarnated in Yours Truly. Imagine me with the quiff, the sideways smile, the wiggly hips, the blue suede shoes.’

  He started singing all these songs about hound dogs and hotels and jailhouses and tender love. The triplets groaned but they sang along too, and even Tina’s mum joined in.

  ‘Come on, Selma, sing up,’ said Tina’s dad.

  But I didn’t know any of the words. We didn’t sing much at home. I sat clutching my mobile, fingering the little pink beads. I wanted to take more selfies but I managed to stop myself. Then Tina’s dad started singing a song about going on a summer holiday. I didn’t know that one either, but he sang it three times, and by then I knew the tune and most of the words. We sang it and sang it and sang it, and I felt a lot better.

  It was a long way to Bracing Beach, so we had lunch in a motorway café on the way. There was so much food I didn’t know what to choose. I wondered about simply copying Tina, but she’s got the appetite of a mouse. She just wanted half a tuna wrap and an orange juice. I didn’t want the other half so her mum had it instead. Phil and Maddie had ham sandwiches and shared a packet of crisps. All this sharing was a bit unnerving!

  ‘Well, it’s the holidays, so I’m not sharing with anyone,’ said Tina’s dad. ‘I’m going to have a huge all-day breakfast – bacon and egg and sausage and tomato and baked beans and mushrooms – and a portion of chips, yum yum. Why don’t you be wicked too, Selma? What’s your favourite food?’

  ‘Chips,’ I said.

  ‘Then you have a great big plateful of chips, sweetheart. And what would you like to go with them?’

  ‘Could I have tomato sauce, please?’ I asked.

  Phil and Maddie rolled their eyes. ‘Dad means, do you want chicken and chips, or sausage and chips, or fish and chips,’ said Phil.

  ‘Well, I don’t,’ I said, though I did actually like the sound of all those. ‘I’d just like tomato sauce.’

  ‘Your wish is my command, O Selma,’ said Tina’s dad, and he ordered a double portion of chips for me and took three sachets of tomato sauce from the stand.

  I really, really love Tina’s dad.

  Phil and Maddie and even Tina started it’s-not-fairing because they wanted a plate of chips too.

  ‘Don’t be silly, girls. You know you’re only allowed chips as a special treat,’ said their mum, glaring at their dad.

  I was astonished. At home we had chips every single day. It’s a wonder my feet didn’t wear a groove down the stairs, past Blake block and Constable block to the chippie on the Parade.

  I took a photo of my huge plate of chips with a big red circle of sauce, and then started shoving them into my mouth with my fingers. Tina’s mum raised her eyebrows, so I sighed and used my fork, though they didn’t taste quite so good that way. When she went to get two coffees, I quickly offered Tina a handful of chips. Phil and Maddie looked daggers. It was such fun winding them up.

  Tina’s dad shook his head at me, but he didn’t get cross. Why, why, why couldn’t my mum have found herself a bloke like him? Why did she have to lumber herself with Jason? Miss Lovejoy says there are some things we won’t understand until we get older. I’m never going to understand what Mum sees in Jason even if I live to be a hundred.

  The second part of the journey got a bit hot and boring. And I felt a bit queasy too, if I’m honest. I kept wondering if I should say anything or ask them to stop the van. I knew Tina’s mum would be FURIOUS if I threw up. So I leaned back and shut my eyes and tried very, very hard not to be sick.

  ‘Is she asleep?’ I heard Tina’s dad ask quietly.

  ‘Yes – nodded right off,’ said Tina’s mum. She was whispering, but I could still hear her. ‘Honestly, I’m not sure this is a good idea after all. This week’s going to seem like a lifetime!’

  ‘She’s a nice little kid really,’ said Tina’s dad.

  Tina’s mum didn’t reply.

  Perhaps I really did fall asleep, because the next thing I knew Tina was clutching my hand and gently shaking me.

  ‘We’re here, Selma! We’re here at Bracing Beach!’

  It felt wonderful getting out of the hot, stuffy van and breathing in fresh sea air. We were up on the cliffs, parked beside the caravan site. We could see down to the cove and the sand and the sea. There didn’t seem to be much else here. No pier, no amusement arcades, just a beach shop with buckets and spades and footballs and lilos, a little food shop called Camper’s Cuisine, and an ice-cream van.

  ‘Isn’t it the loveliest place in the whole world?’ said Tina.

  ‘Yeah, it’s fantastic,’ I said uncertainly. It was so … empty.

  Tina’s family all seemed to love it. As soon as they’d got the suitcases stowed in the caravan they all ran down the zigzag steps to the beach. Even Tina’s mum kicked off her espadrilles and went running towards the sea. Tina’s dad took off his trainers and had a very splashy paddle. Phil and Maddie held hands and played jumping over the tiny waves.

  Tina held out her hand to me. ‘Come on, Selma!’ she said.

  So I wriggled my toes out of my flip-flops and went paddling too. The water was absolutely freezing! And there was all this mucky brown slithery stuff floating in it.

  ‘Yuck! What’s that?’ I squealed.

  ‘It’s only seaweed, silly,’ said Phil.

  ‘It’s horrible,’ I said.

  ‘It can’t hurt you,’ Maddie laughed.

  I wasn’t so sure. It looked like this huge writhing sea monster ready to get me. Then a great strand wound itself right round my ankles, and I shrieked and ran back onto the beach.

  Tina held out her hand to me. She didn’t seem a bit scared of the seaweed herself. She was such a funny, wussy little thing, and yet she could be so brave at times. She’d cheerfully pick up the biggest wriggly worm without even shuddering. ‘You can splash past the seaweedy part ever so quickly. Come out here with me! The water’s all clear and lovely,’ she called.

  ‘No, I don’t fancy paddling – I might get my new shorts wet. I don’t want to spoil them,’ I said quickly.

  Tina didn’t seem to care about getting her shorts wet. She jumped about an awful lot and got soaked all the way up to her neck, but she just laughed and laughed.

  Her mum got a bit fussed when she saw the state of her, and insisted we all go back to the caravan and towel ourselves down and put on dry clothes. It all seemed a bit mad to me.

  ‘It’s what we did last year,’ said Tina. ‘It’s one of our special family things now.’

  ‘Our funny little rituals,’ said her dad. ‘You’re probably thinking we’re mad as a box of frogs, Selma.’

  They were a bit mad. They all spent ages making a sandcastle on the beach. Even my little brother